As a player, Benny Murphy seemed to go on forever. Carnaross are keeping their fingers crossed that he'll do likewise as a valuable member of their backroom team. Royal County meets the man in question. The top scorer from open play in the 1997 All-Ireland Senior football Championship came not from Kerry, Derry, Mayo nor Offaly - but from Carnaross. It was Ollie Murphy's first year proper on the Meath senior team and what an impact he made. Everybody in the Royal County already knew what Ollie was capable of; now the nation knew. He was Man of the Match as Meath finally overcame Kildare in the provincial semi-final at the third time of asking. Inexplicably, the Carnaross star plummeted down the pecking order and failed to start a single Championship match for the county in 1998. Strange. Suddenly, Ollie was (un)rated as only the eighth or ninth best attacker in the county. Sean Boylan's decision to omit the north Meath man for most of the '98 action is a difficult one to comprehend but I'm sure the Lilywhites were mightily glad that their tormentor-in-chief from twelve months previously only got to play an extra's part in the Leinster final. Fact: Ollie Murphy is one of the top forwards in Meath. At club level, he's virtually unstoppable. Nobody will dispute that. He's got it all - skill, pace, confidence, accuracy, two good feet, a salmon's leap, strength, aggression and boundless energy. He didn't lick it off the ground but rather inherited it from his father Benny. Benny played intercounty football for over a decade, won a SFC medal in Dublin and then played for Carnaross until he was well into his forties. Today, he is one of the principal driving forces behind Carnaross GFC. It is from he that Ollie, Gavin (captain of the team in 1998 and a teak tough full back) and Benny Jnr. (winner of a North American Championship medal with Boston-based Aidan McAnespie GFC in '98) acquired their innate love of the national game. Benny Murphy hails from Kinawley in Co. Fermanagh. He represented the Lakeside County at minor, U21, junior and senior levels. At club level, the best he managed was one senior final appearance in the early sixties but Kinawley were forced to bow to a rampant Roslea Shamrocks outfit. Full back for most of his career (he also appeared on occasion at centre back and, less frequently, centre forward), Benny first represented his native county at minor level in the 1959/60 season and remained a regular fixture on the Ernesiders' senior side until 1970. Fermanagh were struggling for a breakthrough but in the likes of Mickey Brewster, PT Treacy and Vincent Greene had some exceptional players. "We weren't too bad," Benny reflects. "We had a few runs past the first round and into the semi-final. Down were very much on top in Ulster at that time. I remember we met them in the first round one year when they were defending All-Ireland champions and we ran them close." Benny had kept his allegiance to Fermanagh even though he'd move to live in Dublin when 21. He transferred to Na Fianna in 1964 and won a Dublin Senior Football Championship with them four years later. "Even though we were senior champions, we had no established Dublin players apart from Bill Casey who had won an All-Ireland in 1963," he notes. After relocating in Lucan, Benny joined Lucan Sarsfields in 1970. He won a Dublin Junior Championship souvenir with them and also reached an intermediate final (wherein victory would have left him with the full collection of Dublin junior, intermediate and senior medals to his name). In a move that was to have a significant bearing on the future of Carnaross and Meath football, Benny Murphy came to live in the Royal County in 1980. How did he get involved with the Carnaross club? "I met up with Aidan Gillic one day a couple of months after coming to Carnaross and we talked football and I ended up joining," he says matter-of-factly. Benny went on to have a lengthy playing career with his 'new' club. He was player-manager of the side that lost in the semi-final of the JFC to St. Michaels in Kells in 1982 and was still on the junior team in 1985 - when he was 42! He was instrumental in the unprecedented success enjoyed recently by Carnaross at underage level. Himself, Eugene Comiskey and Paddy Woods took the club to U12 and U14 county finals before leading them to U15 and U16 championship success. Then, in 1993, amalgamated with Moynalty and playing under the moniker of St. Ciaran's, they won a county minor championship. That all-conquering underage side of Eugene's, Paddy's and Benny's now forms the backbone of the Carnaross seniors. "You don't get it often, but 90% of that team came through and, apart from a few of the older fellas, they're now the senior team," Benny explains. In 1998, Benny was a selector for the senior team (Tony Brennan was manager and the other selectors were John Reilly and Eugene Comiskey) and it wasn't a bad year for Carnaross in anybody's language. In the championship, they were in the group that was ultimately to produce the county final pairing and they gave both teams a real run for their money. "It was one of our most successful years," Benny agrees. "We were the only team to take points off Oldcastle on their way to the final, we had a good game against Kilmainhamwood where we missed two penalties and we were leading Dunboyne well at half time and only lost by one point. We also beat St. Michael's in the Championship for the first time. "The thing about Carnaross is we don't have a strong panel like Dunboyne or Oldcastle; if we're missing two or three players, we don't have the strength to cover for them. You need four or five good subs." What does the future hold for the club, then? "We have some new players coming through; whether they can make it at senior level is another thing. However, we certainly need more players to strengthen the panel. St. Ciaran's have just won the minor again and we won the U14 and the U16 two years ago. Helen McGee was very actively involved with all those teams." Are there problems at the other end, where some fellas might be running out of steam? "There are a few fellas getting over the hill who mightn't have too many years left - but they'll be alright for a few more seasons." Realistically, are Carnaross genuine Keegan Cup contenders? "We'll be there or thereabouts. Carnaross will never be a soft touch. We'll always be more than able to put it up to the big boys. We showed that in 1998." On the county front, Benny expects Meath to emerge as strong as ever in 1999. He is also hopeful that his native Fermanagh can get the break their play of the last couple of years has so richly deserved. As well as his three footballing sons, Benny also has three daughters who are very sports-orientated. Deirdre, who is in Luxembourg, represented Trinity College in volleyball; Roisin, who is in Scotland, represented Sterling University at rugby; and Grainne, the youngest, plays ladies football with Eureka in Kells and with St. Michael's. All real chips off the old block! Tweet

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